Slidable door



Jan. 7, 1930. J. P. McwlLLlAMs SLIDABLE DOQR File@ April 15, 1921vf Patented Jan. 7, 1930 UNITED s'rA'ljlzs PATENT oFFlE JOHN P. MCWILLIAMS, F CLEVELAND, OHIO, :ASSIGNOR T0 YOUNGSTOWN STEEL DOOR i COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A 'CORPORATION 0F OHIO' sLI'nAnLE noonJ Appiication med April 15,y

This invention relates to improvements in slidable doors and more particularlyslidable doors for railway cars.

In the use of railway box cars, the railroads are now almost universally requiring the provision of spark and weather seal means along the rear edge ofthe slidable box car doors.v Furthermore, there is a gradually increasing use of steel doors. Heretofore, considerable difficulty hasbeen encountered in providing, a satisfactory weather sealing strip on the rear edge of the door, this difficulty being per` haps more accentuated in connection with A steel doors than wood doors. It has been customary to provide a strip of more or less angular cross section riveted to the rear edge of the steel door. Due to the fact that theslidable door must slide in a plane closely 'adjacent the outer surfaces of the posts dening the door opening with only a slight clearance tolerance, it has been necessary in'attaching such weather strips to the door to countersinkthe rivets at the point of attachment inorder that there may be no protrusions or obstructions to the sliding of the door past the rear door postfof the car. With such. constructions, it is obvious that the iush.rivets do not provide as rigid a connection asis desirable. 'In moving the door to closed position, very frequently sledges or claw bars are employed against the rear edge of the door, which causes the latter to beedistorted and bent and-to exert a turning force on the usually applied weather strip with the result that the attaching 'rivets are frequently pulled out from' the body portion of the door, necessitating serious repairs to the door. Y

Furthermore, it has been the general custom to utilize the Weather strip applied to the rear edge of the door as the rearmost portion of the doorand consequently the element whichdirectly receivedthe blows and abuse from the sledgin'gpr prying that takes place in trying to force the door to closed position. This same member is also subject to the bumps and injuries resulting from the door being moved to its open position Where thefrear edge of the door is forcedV against the usual stops.

, 5 0 One object of my invention is 'to provide 1927. serial No. $3,929.'

an improved slidable door, and more particu? larly ysuch a door for railway cars of the box type, the'improvements being directed more especially to the provision of an efficient, du-

rable and economical rear edge forl the door that will effectively resist` distortlon, bendpecial reference to doors of the so-called steel or all-metal type.

Another object of my invention isto provide a door witha weather seal strip along an edge thereof so arranged that the same may be attached to the main body portion of the'dfoorby` the ordinary double-headed rivets so located that `the heads of the rivets will in no wise interfere with or in fact, come opposite any portion ofthe rear door postto the end that the door may be kept in a plane closely7 adjacent the face of the door post and Within the tolerance limits permitted bythe railroads.' f y l 7 Another object of my invention 1s to provide an improved door having a weather sealing. strip along the rear edge thereof in co1n. bination with an eiiicient buEer member along the rearv edge whichswill elfe'ctivelyserve not only to prevent distortion of or injury to the weather sealing strip proper, but which will additionally provide a reinforcement to the rear edge of the door serving to `prevent bending or distortion thereof.

Other objects of theiinvention such as the i lowering of manufacturing costs andiwider l l range of, utility of a door of given lsize will more clearly appear from the description and ,claims hereinafter following.

In the` drawingforming a part of this speciication, Figure 1 is a side elevational Viewr .of a portion of a box car showing my improveddoor applied thereto.l In'this ligure,-

the parts'are broken away in order to better accommodate the view on the sheet. Figure 2 is anenlarged horizontal sectionalview cor-- I. top hung type and is provided with hanger brackets 10-10 carrying rollers 11, which ride upon a suitable track 12 mounted on the side of car above the door opening. In Figure 2 is illustrated a common arrangement of car structure for defining a side door opening and, as shown, the front door post is indicated at 13 and the rear door post at 14, each of said posts being in the form of a Z-bar, the inner flange of which is secured to the side l wall structure 15 of the car body. As customary, filler blocks 16 are secured to the door posts in the manner illustrated in the drawing. The front door post 13 is provided with a front weather seal in the form of an angle 17 secured to the post 13 andhaving the narrow flange 18 thereof parallel with and spaced from the outermost flange of the Z-bar so as to-provide a stop and a recess to receive the front edge of the door. The rear door post 14 is illustrated as provided with a wellknown form of guard or spark strip 19, the latter comprising a member of somewhat angular cross section with a flange 20 thereof secured to the Z-bar post 14 and with the other flange thereof bent back upon itself and inclined forwardly and inwardly as indicated at 21.

The door which I have chosen for illustrative purposes is of the sheet metal type and preferably has the main body portion thereof comprised of a plurality of panels 22-22with their horizontal edges'overlapped and riveted, the sheet metal of the door being provided with outwardly extended vertical edge corrugations 23 and 24 and upper and lower ed gel corrugations 25 and 26. Said corrugations are located parallel to and near the respective edges of the door in a well-known manner. The panels are also preferably provided with horizontally` extending bracing corrugations'27' which merge, at their ends, with the vertical edge corrugations 23 and 24. To further strengthen the door, bridging strips 28 `and 2.9 are applied to the inner face of the main panel sheets over the front and rear edge corrugations 23 and 24 respectively, as clearly shown in Figure 2. The front bridging strip 28 is preferably doubled back upon itself as indicated at 28a so as to enclose the forward marginal edge of the panel necessary to illustrate the same for the purposes of this application. While I have illustrated and described a specific form of door proper, it will be understood that my invention is not in any wise confined to the specific construction illustrated.

Referring now more particularly to the rear edge construction of the door, I have provided what may be termed a weather strip deslgnated generally by the reference character B and a bufing member or strip designated generally by the reference character C.

The weather strip B, as illustrated in the form shown in Figures 1 and 2 extends preferably vertically throughout the length of the rear edge of the door and has a flat section 30 lying against and parallel with the flat marginal rear edge portion of the door proper. Forwardly of the flat section 30, the strip B is inwardly offset as indicated at 31 and thence is provided with a forwardly and inwardly extended flange 32 adapted to engage and co-operate with the flange 21 of the guard strip 19 so as to form, with the latter, an efficient spark and weather Seal for the door.

The buffer member C, as shown, preferably consists of an angle bar with a fiange 33 overlying the outer side of the rear edge marginal portion of the door proper and another flange 34 extending inwardly at substantially right angles and across the end edges of the weather strip B and edges of the bridging strip 29 and of the door sheets proper.

In carrying out my invention, I make the door proper of more than the customary width so that the rear marginal portion of the door will be to the right of the rear door post and any guard strip that may be attached thereto or formed therewith. With this arrangement. I am enabled to provide a section for attaching the weather strip B and the buffer member C in a line to the door proper, which is always disposed rearwardly of the rear door post. This, in turn, permits the use of attaching rivets 35-35, which pass through the flange 30 of theweather strip and the flange 33 of the buffer member so that not only may the outer ends of the rivets be headed, but likewise the inner ends of the rivets as clearly shown in the drawing. The inner ends of the rivets as clearly shown therefore never pass in front of the rear door post and consequently the tolerance limits may be observed with respect to the door and door post.

Numerous advantages result from this novel arrangement at the rear edge of the door. In the first place, a much stronger union or attachment is provided by the double headed rivets -as compared with the counter-sunk rivets heretofore commonly used. In the second place, I am'enabled to extend the flange 30 of the weather strip B so as to abut the same against the ange 34 of the buffer member. Consequently, when blows or force is applied to the buffer member C, the rivets 35 are thereby placed in double shear thus multiplying the effective resistance to` tearing out several times over the former methods employed. Again, by utilizing a separate buffer member C, I effectively protect the weather strip B and even though the buffer member may. become Isomewhat distorted due to sledging or prying, the weather stripB retains its normal and proper position to co-operate with the guard strip 19. 'A still further advantage A of my improvements will be noted in that,

whenthe weather strip B and buffer member C are considered collectively, it will be noted that I provide, in effect, a bracing structure for the rear edge of the door on the inner face thereof which is of U or channel shaped .cross section with the web of such section of the door somewhat wider than heretofore customary and of a width exceeding the span between the front and rear portions of the two door posts. By doing this, a door of a predetermined width may be utilized for door openings of variable widths between the maximum for which` the door is designed and reasonably smaller doorl openings without necessitating any change in the dies required in manufacturing the door and for impressing the corrugations therein. This result follows from the fact that the weather strip B may be attached as shown in the drawing and by .varying the width of the sealing ange 32 thereof and extending it to the-desired distance from the line of rivet attachmentsit can bemade to co-operate with guard strips or spark sealing flanges disposed at varying distances from the line of rivets of the door when the door is in closed position. As will be obvious to those skilled in the art,.this advantage is of material importance in the production costs of the door. Another advantage from a manufacturing standpoint vover prior constructions results from the fact 'that both ends of the attaching rivets 35 are readily accessible to thev v may be of the same type throughout as that illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 and heretofore described, it being deemed necessary to illustrate only the rear edge construction and,

the associated parts on the rear door post.

In the modification of Figure 3, 124 indicates the rear vertical edge corrugation, 129 the corresponding bridging strip, 114 the rear door post and 119 the guard strip secured thereto, said guard strip having a sealing flange 121. The weather strip in this instance is shown in the form of a Z-bar B',

one flange of which lies against and is secured to the flat multiple marginal portion of the'door.

wardly extended so as to overlie and engage with the flange 131 of the guard strip 119 as illustrated, the two anges 130 and 132 of the weather strip being united by the intermediate web section 131. The buffer member C is substantially the same as that The other flange 132 of the weather strip is inwardly offset and forl illustrated in the modification previously described and it, together with the weather strip B is secured to the door by a series of rivets 135 headed at both ends and related to the remaining parts of the door and rear door post in the same way as previously described.

In the modification illustrated in Figure 4, the main body portion of the door is illustrated of the same type, the rear vertical edge corrugation being referenced 224, the corresponding bridging strip 229, the door post 214 and the guard strip 219. The guard strip, in this instance, is of ordinary angular cross-section with a flange 221 extending rearwardly and in a plane approximatelyA iush with the outer flange of the post 214. A weather strip B and a buffer member C" are applied to the 'lat marginal multiple edge of the door in the same way as previously described in connection with the form shown in Figures 1 and 2'.

As will be apparent, the same advantages obtain in both of the modifications shown in Figures 3 and 4 as in the form illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 and more specifically heretofore set forth.

I have described my improvements as specically applied to a slidable box car door vof the sheet metal type, but it will be obvious that most of the advantages of my improvements will be equally applicable to wooden doors and also to various other types of metal doors other than the specific type shown in the drawing; All modifications and variations are contemplated that come within `the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A slidable car door comprising: a main body portion consisting principally of a single thickness of sheet metal having a vertical corrugation adjacent the rear edge thereof, with a iat marginal portion between the corrugation and the rear edge proper; a bridging strip secured to saidimain body portion and extending over said corrugation and rearwardly to the rear edge of the main body portion; a weather seal strip secured to the iiinertface of the two-ply rear edge of the main body portion, said strip having at its front edge a forwardly extending section vinwardly offsetl from the plane of the door adapted to co-operate with a weather sealing strip on a door postiand a buffer member, the latter comprising a flange extending inwardly of and abutting the rear edge of said weather sealing strip, and another flange overlying the flat marginal rear edge of the door proper and extending substantially to the adjacent portion of the corrugation, said four elements being secured by a series of rivets common thereto.

2. A horizontally slidable car door comprised principally of sheet metal and having a flat marginal portion along its vertical rear edge 'a sealing strip alongsaid rear edge having a flat flange 'section lying against the inner face of said fiat marginal portion of the door proper and another section extending forwardly and inwardly offset to cooperate with a sealing member carried by the car body; a bracing buer strip along said rear edge having a flange section lying against the outer face of said flat marginal portion of the door proper and another flange section projecting inwardly across the edges of said flat marginalportionand rear edge of the sealing strip flange section whereby the sealing ,x strip is protected against direct access by a tool or the like; and a series of rivetsextending through said flat marginal portion of the i door proper and said overlapped tions of the two strips.

3. A horizontally slidable car door comflange secprised principally of sheet metal and having Y a flat marginal portion along its vertical rearA edge; a sealing strip along said rear edge having a. flat flange section lying against the inner face of said flat marginal portion of the doorproper and another section extend-` ing forwardly and inwardly offset to cooperate with a sealing member carried by the carl body; a bracing bilder strip along said rear p edge having a flange section lying against the outer face of said flat marginal portion of the door proper and another flange section projecting inwardly across the edges of said flat marginal portion and rear edge fof the sealing strip flange section; and a series of rivets extending through said flat marginal portion ofthe door proper and said overlapped flange sections of the two strips, said inwardly extending fiange section of the buffer strip abutting the rear edge of the sealing flange section wherebysaid rivets are placed under double shear when force is applied against the buffer strip edgewise of and toward the door.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 13th day of A April, 1927l .JOHN P; MOWILLIAMS. 

